Unless you are a Surveyor, a Builder or other Property Professional we would always recommend having a Survey of any property you intend buying. Whether that is a new or an old build and there are a few different types of Survey to choose from according to the age or type of the building.
Snagging Surveys for New Build Properties
In 2021 The Residential Property Surveyors Association www.rpsa.org.uk launched the first ever standards for snagging inspections of new build properties. If you have ever owned a new build home, (I have had 3), then you will appreciate the reasons why this kind of Survey was introduced. It identifies ‘Snags’ in the finished quality of the property. It is designed to avoid buyer/developer conflict by introducing an impartial, qualified 3rd party to inspect and recognise incomplete and cosmetically unacceptable standards of workmanship. Snags are generally cosmetic however, more serious defects can also be identified.
Lots of people consider a Survey of a new build property unnecessary simply because they are new, when in reality, they are rarely flawless.
For a cost of around £250 plus, depending upon the size of the property, you may well find it is worth your while having one carried out.
Ideally, you would want this Survey between Exchange and Completion of your Contract. There is little point in having it carried out before Exchange as the property will probably be incomplete and the builder will probably not permit the Surveyor to attend prior to this date. They are legally permitted to do this as the property is still within their ownership at this stage. You may find they won’t allow the Survey to take place until after Completion. Whilst not ideal as you have signed for the property anyway at this stage, you should aim to get one carried out as soon as you can after the date of Exchange. You will still be able to negotiate with the builders to have any necessary works carried out. You may even find you get a better finish if you can let the builder know you intend having a Snagging Survey early in the build process.
Before coming into Estate Agency I was employed by an Architects Practice who produced Snagging Lists on behalf of their clients for their self builds and I can tell you, as I typed them up, they were sometimes quite long and in depth.
Employing a 3rd party independent surveyor to carry this out for you, means that they can provide you and the builder with a report that enables you to have work carried out by the builder with hopefully, little argument.
If you want to ensure that the Surveyor does not carry out work on behalf of builders and developers you can use a Company called www.newbuildinspections.com who say they only ever work with Home Buyers and never with builders.